


Belief

by hiatusactuallyreally



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Fiction, Hetalia, M/M, Medieval, USUK - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-20
Updated: 2014-09-20
Packaged: 2018-02-18 03:33:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2333726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiatusactuallyreally/pseuds/hiatusactuallyreally
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Kingdom of Lorathien is in danger, knights and servants being controlled by an unknown force, sending the kingdom straight to its doom. The only way to save the kingdom is asking for the help of a powerful mage, and that task was given for the Prince Alfred F. Jones. Among many disgusts, different beliefs, likings and ways to see the world, the two are forced to work and get along together in order to bring peace to the kingdom, but that is exactly the problem; that will surely not be an easy task.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Belief

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Hetalia, nor any of its characters. 
> 
> Anything about the next chapters or other works will be posted on my Tumblr: engwaand
> 
> If you like the story, please, leave kudos or a review \\( ^ - ^ )/ It gives me a lot of motivation!

"A mage?!" The boy stood, shocked with the statement. "This is stupidness! I refuse to do it!" --No, surely no! That went against all his beliefs! A Prince, a member of the royal family, working with such... creature? That was completely out of question, and a waste of time, as well. It was true, the situation was serious... In less than a year, they would be reduced to nothing more than ruins. It was strange, really; the kingdom was completely focused on military forces, the majority of the land was rocky and mountainous, providing good, excellent defenses. Winters were long and often came early. The kingdom was the main source of coal and any materials crucial to development. It was surrounded by the sea to its North, and thanks to the mines in its mountains, it was also a nation wealthy in gold and silver.

Yes, The Kingdom of Lorathien had all that was needed to be successful, but... that changed. Who would expect to be attacked by their closest ally, without any reasons? Well, they had reasons; the wealth. But that wasn't enough to a proper explanation. Actually, enough or not, it didn't matter; they had everything they needed to protect themselves, and even react to that. That was what they thought, but, for some reason, things went completely wrong. When they attempted a counterattack, their own troops turned against them. Knights, soldiers, commoners, using all they could to damage their own land, almost as if toys. The expressions, the empty eyes, the irrational acts and speech, all showed the clear lack of consciousness in their body; the clear fact they didn't have any idea of what they were doing. They were being controlled, as if someone were pulling the strings up in somewhere; and certainly it wasn't in their favour. 

It didn't take too long until lands were taken, mines were surrounded and closed for exploration, and simple villagers and servants were taken as prisoners. That was incomprehensible... they did nothing wrong, and now they were ambushed, not being able to do anything; only watch as what they once called home, was now slowly, but surely, turning into nothing more than chaos, ruled by a tyrant. Nobody knew where he was, nobody knew how to stop that, nobody knew or was understanding anything... There was only one information; and that was the fact that not everyone was affected by it. Only the ones who went to fight in name of their King, for their homeland, were the ones who ended up trapped. That was the reason for why the King ordered the castle to be closed, gathering the best guards and knights there, and of course, the royal family. Of course, Alfred refused to believe in anything so irrational and senseless like that. For him, what was happening had one name, and just one; betrayal. The only thing that could make such horrible things happen, in such a small amount of time and with such incredible power, would be magic. And magic did not exist. Everything had an explanation, there was no such thing called magic. But the facts were against him, and so were people. He would do everything he could to save the kingdom, after all, he wanted to help. Of course he wanted... but, that one task was already beyond the limits.

"Alfred, sit down, immediately." The King replied, giving him a look that wasn't really necessary after such voice tone. As soon as the Prince sat down, with a light, almost inaudible huff, the King stood up, and called one of the guards who was holding an incredibly big backpack. He soon handed the backpack to Alfred. 

"It is already decided. You shall go to the northern mountains, and find a mage who resides in one of the caves there. I do know it is not reasonable to request help from such a disgusting creature, but, this is our last resort... and this mage is the only one who was never caught or ambushed, even if just once. That is why I am sure he will be able to help us; if he isn't, nobody else is. You have everything you need in this backpack, including a map which will show the exact place you should search, food, water, money, and clothes. You will be carrying a sword with you as well..." The said sword was presented.

"Wait! You are saying you will simply let me wander around, while there are people being 'controlled' out there...?" Of course, he didn't really believe in that... but his father did.

"You are already a grown man, Alfred. You can take care of yourself. I have watched your progress with the sword as well, and I am sure you will have no problems in defending yourself if necessary, neither in completing this quest. Besides, the northern mountains were not occupied yet. If you go as soon as possible, you will arrive without any problems. I know it is a big risk, but it is for the sake of our kingdom, and I can only count on you now." He handed the sword to Alfred.

With a mix of a worried and an annoyed expression, the boy just let out a sigh, adjusted the backpack, and took the sword, looking down at it. He knew better than to argue with his father... it would take him nowhere. Especially when they were in such a dangerous situation... Ah... if at least he could help everyone and get back safe... perhaps he wouldn't mind that at all. He just hoped things would go well.

"Very well, my son. Now, have a good voyage. The future of the kingdom depends on you." 

//

The difficulty to walk, the sun which was set hours and hours before the usual, and so the low light it provided, along with the frequent snowstorms which only caused his vision to get blurrier than the usual... The extremely discomforting, unbearable cold, which seemed to want to tear off every part of his body, perhaps even his soul, with its unwanted embrace... The lack of knowledge about the area, about the creatures he could find, the almost impossible task of understanding the map in middle of all that... 

Going out in such an important quest when you were in Lorathien, and when it was winter, was surely not the smartest or best of ideas... But again, it was not like Alfred had any choice at all...

It took him two days to arrive, with no water left, less than half of the food and a rather crumpled map, but... he did arrive. And that was all that mattered for now. Finding the cave was not so easy as well, but it was the only one who actually provided warmth and light, what facilitated the process. 

There was no place to knock, thus, walking in without any warnings was the first instinct that Alfred had, and that was what he did. After all, there was still a chance the 'mage' wouldn't even be there... and if he had to spend even if just one more second out there in the snow, he would most likely pass out right there in front of the mage's cave. But of course, things couldn't simply go well to him. In less than a second, he was suddenly tied up and caught in some kind of trap, which he hadn't noticed so far. 

Well, of course he hadn't noticed-- who would guess there would be a trap waiting for them in the entrance of a cave?!

Now there he was, hung upside down, freezing in the entrance of an unknown cave in the middle of nowhere, thanks to his father. He could already feel his blood going straight to his head, and that surely was not a good thing... It probably wouldn't take too much until he started to feel nauseous or get nervous with the fact he was probably going to be like that for hours and hours, without being able even to reach out for food, as the backpack fell off his hand, or anything warm... 

Well, that was just what he thought. For once, something good happened in middle of all that... or at least he hoped so. He couldn't say whether that was good or not, but, there was the clear sound of footsteps approaching-- probably from the so mysterious mage who hadn't showed any sign of being alive yet. If that were really the mage, things could get a bit difficult... after all, he was hung upside down for a reason; he invaded his home. Could it be called a home...? It was a cave, after all... Ah, whatever. He had no rights to just enter like that, but he couldn't help it, it was too cold outside, and he had been looking for that cave for two days! 

He gave a pause to the writhing which he was doing in an attempt to free himself once he heard the footsteps, and then, they got closer. And closer. Until he could finally see a shadow, and soon, someone. Yes, just someone. There were no details; the person was wearing a cloak, a dark cloak, which not only was incredibly long, but managed to hide their face as well. The hair couldn't be seen either, what made Alfred wonder if it was a boy... but there were still possibilities it weren't. 

Being a boy or not, there were more important things to be delead with at that moment. Like the fact the person... talked.

"My, my... what do we have here?" The mage approached, taking some steps around Alfred as if analysing him. 

Alfred asked himself how the mage could actually see with that cloak... It covered his eyes! And all his body-- But by the way he talked and walked, it was clear he could see him very well. The voice was the one of a male, too. One way or another, he tried to turn his body to where he was now, but it failed and he ended up spinning back to face the corridor. The position he was at the moment was rather uncomfortable, too... it was beginning to give him nausea... if the other could see him, then he should take him out of that trap once for all instead of acting as if he were a prey.

"I am what you call a 'human', in case you didn't know. Are all of you mages stupid like this...?" Alright, perhaps that was not the better way to talk to someone who you were supposed to ask for help, but... he was feeling cold, hungry, thirsty, it had been days since he last had a significant sleep, and now he was hung upside down, in a cave in the middle of nowhere and being analysed by some insane stranger who thought he had magical powers?! He had his reasons.

The response got something that should be a hostile look from the mage, but it wasn't really possible to see it, due to the cloak covering almost all his features.

"That was a rhetoric question. You better watch the way you talk to me, or I may end up shushing you myself with this beautiful sword of yours..." The mage's fingers ran through the blade of the sword next to Alfred's backpack just for a second, before Alfred slapped his hand far from the sword, and threw him a glare. 

"And you better not touch my things, or I may end up..." What could he even do to him, again? Honestly, his thoughts weren't very arranged at the moment... 

That annoyed Alfred, but, on the other hand, emitted a chuckle from the mage. "No responses...?" He asked, walking back to face the other properly, despite from the fact his face still could not be seen. "I guess you can't really do anything, after all..."

The Prince narrowed his eyes a little more, and the response was almost that instantaneous. "I can do many things." Yes, he could. He could do _many_ things. But for now, he honestly just wanted to sleep. Have a meal, some warm place to stay or whatever... It was harsh to get there. He knew he wasn't making things easy, too, but he couldn't just be quiet when there was someone challenging him like that...

"Perhaps you can, 'human'," he said, mockingly. "But you will not."

Alfred then raised an eyebrow. "Oh, I won't? Why are you so sure of that?"

The mage shrugged. "You are here, therefore, you need something from me. One does not simply decide to have a little happy trip to isolated mountains, during winter, in middle of a war." He stopped for a second. "That is, if we can call that war. After all, you all are being humiliated out there..." 

The latter seemed to annoy the Prince, who let out a huff. "You are part of this kingdom too."

The mage directed his look to outside, briefly, before looking at the boy again and letting out a sigh, ignoring his remark. "Well, as much as I would love to continue our friendly conversation, it is getting too late for such. Would you mind telling me the reason for why you are here, or should I just leave you here and come back tomorrow...?"

Come back tomorrow?-- How was Alfred supposed to stay like that for an entire night?!

"You expect me to do this while hung upside down?!"

The mage then turned away. "If you're not going to tell me, then, I shall come back tomorrow." He said, then started to walk.

"Hey! At least let me go!" He said, and in less than a second, the mage stopped, made a quick gesture with his hands and the ropes which were restraining Alfred quickly disappeared, giving him less than a second to roll around and not break his neck when falling. 

Even after being caught like that, it didn't take too long for Alfred to finally get up, gather his things and walk deeper into the cave.

He was probably not getting good food, water, or a good place to sleep that night... who knew if he would even manage to stay there? Ah, that didn't matter... trying was the only thing he could do now. Even that the idea wasn't quite appealing for Alfred himself... 

Well, let the journey begin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave kudos and reviews if you liked! That helps me a lot ^^'

**Author's Note:**

> Their relationship is not of the best in the beginning, but... who knows how it may turn?
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
